The Warriors’ Kevin Durant was at his ruthless best during Thursday’s Game 3 thrashing of the Clippers. He finished with 38 points of 14-of-23 shooting and seven assists. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

“That’s not true,” he shot back to a reporter who described him as “pass-first” in a question. “I don’t pass up shots. I just play within the offense.”

Maybe Durant, 30, was just itchy on the trigger finger after three days of being questioned about taking just eight shots in Game 2 against the Clippers. This much was true Thursday night: He wasn’t afraid to fire away.

It was very much a statement game for the 10-time All-Star, who dialed up 38 points on 23 shots in the Golden State Warriors’ 132-105 victory over the Clippers in Game 3 of their best-of-seven first-round series. After reminding the world the day before that, “I’m Kevin Durant: Y’all know me,” teammates and opponents alike expected something special.

That manifested with a 6-for-6 start from the field, with Durant scoring 14 points before he missed for the first time in the second quarter. Patrick Beverley, who hounded him like a pit bull nipping at his heels for the first two games, was largely rendered ineffective, playing just 18 minutes with foul trouble.

The Clippers’ 31-point comeback in Game 2 and Durant’s relatively meek performance in it inspired a popular talking point between games: Who can really stop the former MVP when he sets his mind to it?

The answer from Game 3: No one on the Clippers. Lou Williams expected Durant to be more aggressive after his post-practice comments Wednesday, but he was discouraged to see his team not respond in kind.

“He’s a top three player in this league: He made those statements with confidence,” he said.

“Only thing I’m disappointed about is he announced himself before he got here. And we didn’t prepare ourselves.”

Durant’s ruthless mid-range efficiency was on display early: He hit three shots in the first minute of the game. Early foul calls went against him, but Coach Steve Kerr leaned on him anyway, trusting him to stay poised even as Beverley resumed his tactics in what Durant has called a “gimmick” defense meant to goad him into getting out of his normal flow.

Durant described the early sequences as Kerr calling more plays for him out of the gate, and Steph Curry (21 points) said the Warriors had “cleaned up” some things in practice to make it more clear where Durant had to get to on the floor to be successful. But the biggest difference, Kerr said, was Durant’s mental approach. Multiple times, Durant brought the ball up the floor, which infused an energy in the team that Kerr called “infectious.”

“He had a different mindset tonight than he did the other night,” Kerr said. “Set a tone right away. Our guys loved it.”

There was just one notable slip-up that was somewhat controversial: As Durant and JaMychal Green were jawing up the floor during a third-quarter play, both were called for technical fouls and both protested immediately. That has a strong implication for further down the line in the playoffs: Durant has three technicals already three games into the postseason, and with just four more, he’ll receive a one-game suspension.

“Hopefully they rescind that one,” he said. “Because I don’t want somebody to think somebody is in my head, and that’s why I got that tech.”

For Thursday night at least, as Durant laid waste to the Clippers, no one was thinking that.

Kyle Goon covers the Lakers for the Southern California News Group. Before taking his talents to Los Angeles, he worked for The Salt Lake Tribune for eight years, covering everything from high school rodeo to the Utah Jazz. Gregg Popovich once baptized him by fire in a media scrum.

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